Forests – Western Ghats – Restoration of pristine forest areas and protection of tiger habitats/wildlife reserves/sanctuaries falling under the Agasthyamalai landscape – Directions given by Supreme Court – Forest Conservation Act, 1980 – Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972:
Held: Forests form the lungs of the ecosystem, and any depletion/destruction of forest areas has a direct impact on the entire environment – World facing the calamities caused by the climate change, and the primary culprit is the depleting forest cover because of rapid urbanization, unchecked industrialization, encroachments, etc – Supreme Court has time and again passed mandatory directions to remove the encroachments from the forest areas and to curb any attempt to reduce the forest cover in the country – As an interim measure, Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to conduct an extensive survey of the entire Agasthyamalai landscape, including Periyar Tiger Reserve, Srivilliputhur Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary, Meghamalai and Thirunelveli Wildlife Sanctuaries – CEC shall indicate in its report all instances of nonforestry activities going on in these areas contrary to the statutory provisions – CEC shall recommend measures for restoration of
(a) the reserved forests, (b) the tiger habitats, and (c) elephant corridors and (d) other wildlife reserves (sanctuaries) in and around the Agsthyamalai landscape, including the abovementioned sanctuaries/reserves – For this purpose, the CEC may employ all scientific procedures including Remote Sensing Satellite Imagery, Geo Mapping etc. [Paras 2, 4, 27, 29]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Bibhuti Bhushan Bose. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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